Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Chicken Pot Pie

I decided to make this pie since I had some left over chicken, some celery and carrots. I was so glad I did! I love pot pie! I used the pie crust I use for my fruit pies, it was extremely light and flaky! I used the recipe for the filling from The Pioneer Woman. She likes a little more thyme then I would recommend, and she just had a crust on top. This pie is meant for a deep dish pie. I don't have any deep pie dishes so I just used the extra filling to make little pies with just a pie crust on top. Next time I would try just having a top crust, the bottom crust got lost in the sauce. It was sure good though!!!

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Begin by finely dicing the vegetables. Slice the celery stalks into narrow strips, then slice in the other direction to create a fine dice. Repeat process with the carrots and onion. Melt butter in a large pot or dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots, celery and peas. Saute until the vegetables start to turn translucent, a couple of minutes. Add the chicken and stir to combine. Sprinkle the flour evenly over the vegetables and chicken and stir to combine. Cook for a couple of minutes, stirring gently. Pour in the chicken broth, stirring constantly. Stir in the bouillon cube and wine, if using. The flour will combine with the chicken to create a delicious gravy. Pour in the cream and stir. Allow the mixture to cook over low heat, thickening gradually, about 4 minutes. Season with the thyme, salt, and pepper. remove from the heat. Taste and adjust the seasonings as needed. Be sure it is adequately salted!Pour the chicken mixture into a deep pie pan or small casserole dish. Roll out the crust so that it's 1 inch larger than the pan. Place the crust on top of the chicken mixture and cut small slits in the top. Press the crust gently into the sides of the dish to seal. Bake for 30 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbly. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.Use a large spoon to serve.

Pie Crust

2 1/4 cups flour

3/4 to 1 cup vegetable shortening

1 tsp. salt

Cut shortening into flour and salt with a fork or a pastry blender until you get crumbles the size of a pea.

6 Tbsp. cold water

Add the cold water to the dough and work together with hands. Do not over work dough! It will become too tough.

Roll out for pie pans. Use pie filling of choice.

This recipe will make enough to do one double crusted pie or two single pie shells.